Growing up on a farm, we got used to cats (and occasionally kittens) just showing up and becoming part of the barn cat family. Once a cute siamese kitten showed up at the farm - other siamese kittens showed up at neighboring farms the same day.

Our siamese grew up into a beautiful, healthy cat. I don't know about the other kittens, though.

Distillery leak turns Polish lake into vodka:

A LAKE has been transformed from freshwater to 30 per cent vodka after a leak from a nearby distillery.

Farmers and workers from Wielkopolska. in in Poland rushed to fill their boots with the brew - three times the strength of wine. A 71-year-old woman, who lives near Lake Bracholinskie, said: "If God doesn't help, everyone will be a drunkard with only a hole where the lake was."

A friend of mine -- Mitch Wagner, who may be remembered from Table Talk -- got blackballed from cat adoption agencies in San Francisco because he answered truthfully that he'd consider declawing. Not only did they refuse to give him a kitten, they called other shelters to warn them against him. I expect less Left-Coastish shelters may have a more forgiving policy.

Still, there are enough crazy cat ladies/animal hoarders/ shady animal research suppliers out there that I don't blame shelters for putting in some elementary spot-checking.

Emacs has been scientifically proven to be the ultimate text editor, but it is also so much more than that.

Our Church of Emacs is very open minded, we discuss both how best to worship our Saviour among the True Believers, and also welcome preachers of false religions like The Church of Bill Gates, Discordia, and vi to our church, where we can test their silly misconceptions against out pure and strong faith .

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I got my cat from the pound, because my friend who worked at the ASPCA told me to -- I actually saved his life, as opposed to getting a cat from a no-kill shelter or rescue organization. Needless to say, they didn't ask much.

This IS the pound!!!!

I am hoping when I actually get there, they won't ask much. Of course, I am also afraid I will see my kitty, if he hasn't already been euthanised, so I am reluctant to go. The only way I can deal is if I sort of don't think about it much, otherwise I get very weepy.

A friend of mine -- Mitch Wagner, who may be remembered from Table Talk -- got blackballed from cat adoption agencies in San Francisco because he answered truthfully that he'd consider declawing. Not only did they refuse to give him a kitten, they called other shelters to warn them against him. I expect less Left-Coastish shelters may have a more forgiving policy.

We were barred from adopting a cat from the Durham (NC) Animal Shelter because we mentioned that we already had an indoor/outdoor kitty. I spoke with the general manager, who kept saying, "It's just a different paradigm." Their refusal to allow us to adopt the kitty was cc'ed to the Orange County Animal Shelter, too, presumably to keep us from adopting a cat in Chapel Hill, too.

I should point out that at the time, neither shelter was a no-kill shelter (and I don't know if this is still the case), and the cat we were interested in was at the end of its allotted time. In other words, we were forbidden to adopt a cat because they considered our environment to have a higher risk of sudden death than one afforded to an indoor kitty, but they were going to destroy the cat in another week's time.

Just writing about that brings back a lot of anger. I still hate those dipshits.

I think that Sophia should get a bunny instead.

That's terrible, Corwood.

I hear that bunnies aren't as cuddly as cats! And I like cuddly animals-- this is actually why I want to go to a shelter, as I want to see the animals first. But I think bunnies are as cute as a cute thing.

Also that is horrible, Corwood. It makes me angry, too. And frankly, that is why I fear being blackballed myself for calling animal control on my own cat, despite the circumstances (and frankly, really obvious scars. My legs and arms are going to be pretty scary for quite awile, I think)